France recommends single vaccine shot for people who have had Covid-19

France recommends single vaccine shot for people who have had Covid-19.jpg

France on Friday recommended that people who have already recovered from Covid-19 receive a single vaccine dose, becoming the first country to issue such advice.

All three Covid-19 vaccines approved for use in the European Union are administered in the form of two doses, delivered several weeks apart.

This is because clinical trials showed that immunity against the disease was significantly higher after individuals received two shots.

France's public health authority said Friday, however, that people who had already been infected with Covid-19 develop an immune response similar to that bestowed by a vaccine dose, and that a single dose after infection would likely suffice.

"A single vaccine dose will also play the role of reminding" their immune system how to fight Covid-19, it said.

The authority recommended a gap of between three and six months after infection before individuals who had recovered from Covid-19 receive a jab.

"At the moment no country has clearly positioned itself in terms of a sole vaccination dose for people who have already contracted Covid-19," it said.

Vaccination programme still just starting

France has accelerated its vaccination programme in recent weeks but it is still in its infancy.

As of Thursday, over 2.1 million people had received at least one vaccine dose, with almost 535,800 having already received two.

Trump's lawyers argue impeachment trial is act of 'political vengeance'

Michael van der Veen, lawyer for former President Donald Trump, through the Senate Reception room on the fourth day of the Senate Impeachment trials for former President Donald Trump on Capitol Hill in Washington, US, February 12, 2021. © Reuters - Pool

Donald Trump's lawyers on Friday began laying out their case for why the former president should be acquitted of inciting last month's deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol, arguing the impeachment trial was an act of "political vengeance" by Democrats.

The defense is expected to take three to four hours to argue that Trump was not responsible for inciting the Jan. 6 riot, which sent lawmakers scrambling for safety and resulted in the deaths of five people, including a police officer.

Trump's lawyers have said his rhetoric was protected by the U.S. Constitution's free speech guarantee and that prosecutors had not directly connected the actions of the rioters to Trump.

"The article of impeachment before the Senate is an unjust and blatantly unconstitutional act of political vengeance," Trump lawyer Michael van der Veen said in his opening argument, adding that it was a "politically-motivated witch hunt" by Democrats.

Democratic prosecutors wrapped up their case on Thursday, arguing that Trump knew what would happen when he exhorted supporters on Jan. 6 to march on the Capitol and "fight like hell" as Congress gathered to certify Democrat Joe Biden's victory in the Nov. 3 election, and that the Republican former president should be held accountable.

Trump has falsely claimed that Biden's victory in November was the result of widespread fraud.

Van der Veen said the entire premise of Trump's remarks to his supporters was that the democratic process would and should play out according to the letter of the law. "These are not the words of someone inciting a violent insurrection," he said.

The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives charged Trump on Jan. 13 with inciting the insurrection, but Democrats are unlikely to get a conviction in the evenly-divided Senate or to bar Trump from running for office again.

Two-third majority required

Conviction requires a two-thirds majority in the 100-member Senate, which means at least 17 Republicans would have to defy Trump despite his continued popularity among Republican voters.

"I'm anxious to see what my Republican friends do," Biden told reporters at the White House on Friday.

If Trump is acquitted, the Senate could decide to censure him or even vote to bar him from holding public office again. Asked on Thursday about pursuing the latter option, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said that decision would have to wait until the end of the trial.

On Tuesday, the Senate voted largely along party lines that the impeachment trial was constitutional and even though Trump's term ended on Jan. 20. Six Republican senators sided with Democrats.

In their arguments, the Democratic prosecutors provided numerous examples of Trump's actions prior to the rampage to illustrate what he intended when he told his supporters to go to the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Neither side has so far announced an intention to call witnesses, leaving senators on track for final arguments and a vote as soon as Saturday.

At least 3.4 million people have had confirmed Covid-19 infections in France, although there are likely to have been far more given the relative lack of accessible testing during the pandemic's first wave.

Two recent US studies suggest that a single vaccine dose may work in individuals who have already recovered from Covid-19.

One paper said that immunity in individuals who had had Covid-19 and then received a single vaccine dose "is equal to or even exceeds" that of people who have not had Covid-19 but received two vaccine doses.

A vaccine still in development by Johnson & Johnson works with a single dose, but it is yet to receive emergency use authorisation from EU and US regulators.

(AFP)

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Trump is the first U.S. president to be impeached twice and the first to face trial after leaving office. His first impeachment trial, which stemmed from his efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate Biden, ended in an acquittal a year ago in what was then a Republican-controlled Senate.

(REUTERS)

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